Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said that some securities brokers experienced cyberattacks.
In a circular dated Jan. 26, the commission said the police alerted them of brokers encountering distributed denial of service attacks, or DDoS, which caused service disruption for a short period of time. The hackers targeted the brokers' website and blackmailed them.
The commission said more cybersecurity incidents may occur across the securities industry.
The commission warned licensed corporations to be on alert for cybersecurity threats and to implement protective security measures such as a review of their IT systems and the formulation of a DDoS mitigation plan.
The commission also urged the companies to take immediate and appropriate actions to address risk and to report cybersecurity issues right away.